


A Step Forward

by Sociophobia452



Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst, F/F, Gen, Ghosts, Guilt, How Do I Tag, Hurt No Comfort, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Sorry, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Past Violence, Spirits, Warning not good writing ahead, this was for a school project
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:21:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28295241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sociophobia452/pseuds/Sociophobia452
Summary: North, a wandering ghost, is tasked with killing the human that once killed her, Juniper Moore. She is given this mission by a shadow spirit who promises to give her the location of her brother, Marcus, but can she really trust it?
Relationships: Juniper & Melody | North, Juniper/Melody | North, Original Female Character & Original Female Character, Original Female Character/Original Female Character





	A Step Forward

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone's here wondering why I haven't updated my TMFU fic, this is why. I was pretty busy- 
> 
> This was just an assignment that I had to write for school and I was given a limit of 8 pages and a short deadline so there's not too much here that's really developed. 
> 
> I really wanted to get a ship in, but sadly I have no idea what the teacher would think (idk if she's homophobic or not) and I didn't want to get a bad grade.
> 
> Just figured I'd put this here though because why not?

_Kill Juniper Moore._

The order echoed in North’s head from the moment that she had listened to the black figure that stood in front of her.

_Kill the mortal within 24 human hours, and I shall grant you and your brother that you have been so desperately looking for, freedom from this shadow realm._

It was that order from the shadow spirit that had left such an unsettling feeling in her gut since her passage through the portal. A feeling of dread stayed there for a while after the arrangement was given, but it quickly subsided as she walked through the mirror into the mortal realm. 

The immediate light after walking out of an eternal pit of darkness was comforting, but North squinted out of habit, reminding her of when she was alive. It was her past that gave her such drive for her mission, to kill the one who had left her for dead in a past life. She figured that it was only fair, an eye for an eye, a life for a life.

Her hand tightened around the knife that had been given to her.

_That knife is one of the only objects that can be held by you in the spirit realm and be used in the mortal realm. It is physical in both realms._

She recognized the area that surrounded her as Juniper’s house. The many times that she had been there almost made the walk down from the attic to her room like muscle memory, a reflex only possessed by the former friendship. 

The thought only filled her with a burning hatred. 

The minute that she saw Juniper, she stared into the pale blue eyes that gazed back in surprise. Neither of them could breathe at the sight of each other. 

It took a few moments before a faint voice cut in from Juniper: “Mel? Melody? Is that- Is that really you?”

North stepped out of her surprised daze at Juniper’s question and lurched forward at Juniper, pinning her to the ground with the knife in hand. The blade came close to Juniper’s head, but she held it back as it approached her head.

“Melody, please stop! Wait, let me- 

She was cut off by North’s shout, “Do not call me that! I’m not Melody, not after- after you…” North trailed off, the hand that gripped the knife relaxed, allowing Juniper to smack it out of her hand and away from her face. 

“Please, just listen to me real quick. I’m sorry.”

North paused at the sudden apology before she gathered herself enough to speak, although only a confused “what” is all she was able to manage.

“I…” Juniper started, not knowing yet how to continue with a seemingly impossible apology, “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen…” 

“What for me to die? Is that it?” North questioned, an ominous tone clearly present as she asked.

“No! I mean, yes-” She stammered, “I didn’t mean for you to die, yes, but maybe I can help?”

“How in the world,” North paused after her poison-filled word, “Are you supposed to help me?”

“I don’t- I don’t know, but maybe I could… maybe I could…” 

North watched as Juniper trailed off mid-sentence. It was a sight she had been waiting for, gazing at the panicked girl, _but why don’t I like this? I should be enjoying this, not feeling bad…_ She tried thinking further about it, but she kept getting stuck at that part. 

_Kill the mortal within 24 human hours…_

She looked up at the clock in the room, she found that she had 23 hours left and made her judgement about Juniper. 

“You have 23 hours.”

“What?”

“I said,” she spat, punctuating the words, “That you have 23 hours. You’re going to help me figure this out. If not, I’ll kill you, got it this time?”

Petrified eyes behind the round glasses looked back at North, it morphed to resignation before she murmured her agreement.

“Good. Now, what exactly are you going to do, you know nothing about where I just came from.”

She looked back with a puzzled expression before she gave a huff of amusement accompanied with a raised eyebrow and an answer: “You walked past the giant stack of books, didn’t you?”

It was North’s turn to be confused at the other’s statement. “I don’t understand, what do you mean ‘giant stack of books?’”

“I’m assuming that you came through the mirror, right? I knew that thing was haunted,” she added. “Anyway, there’s a huge stack of old books. You should remember that my family’s weird, they’ve got all sorts of weird nonsense up in the attic. Although, I’m sure you were pretty distracted trying to find me, huh?”

North gave a look of surprise, then averted her gaze to the side in annoyance. “Well yeah, I have a time constraint which is why I need you to hurry up because I don’t have time for this, and now you don’t either, huh?” she added mockingly.

“Okay, fair enough,” she admitted with a shrug, “Well then, let’s go to the attic.” 

North noticed the sharp movements that Juniper used to move away from the other. She’s scared, North thought to herself, but her mind was quick to fill in the other half of the thought: _Of course she’s scared, how did you think she was going to receive this?_

She slightly frowned at the thought, but got herself together after a voice: “Hey, Mel- uh wait, what do you want me to call you? Sorry, I know that you didn’t want me to call you by… that, so I was just wondering what you wanted me to call you now since-”

“First of all,” North interrupted, “stop with the rambling, it’s getting annoying.”

“Got it.”

“Secondly, it’s North now.”

“Okay, can I ask why?”

North paused at the question, but after a few seconds, she answered, “I just didn’t like the other name. Not exactly fitting for a ghost, you know? Are we going to go check out the books now?”

Juniper eyed her carefully as she spoke, “Yeah, sure.”

When they entered the attic, North noticed the wall full of books towards the left of the room. “You weren’t kidding when you said there was a lot.”

“Yep, like I said, the family’s weird, so we have all of this stuff that I like to mess around with from time to time.” Juniper walked towards the end of the room. “It has to be in this pile somewhere. I remember reading something about ghosts, portals through mirrors.”

North watched Juniper poke through the stack, trying to find the book. 

“Okay, I think I got it,” she shuffled a book out of the pile and dusted it off. “ _Ghouls, Ghosts, Spirits, and Demons_. Pretty old book too, let’s hope it has something,” she stated with hope while dusting the book off. 

As they had spent the next few hours reading through the giant book, Juniper read through the important bits and North alternated between sitting and standing while she listened, clearly getting agitated. 

“Any word on how I can actually stay here for longer periods of time and not get sucked back into the spirit realm?” North questioned. She paused before adding to it, “Also, just letting you know that you have 20 hours left.”

“Yes, I’m working on it. As for how you’ll be able to maintain this form you have right now for prolonged periods of time, I have no idea.” Juniper looked as though she was considering something before she looked up at North and squinted. 

“What?” North questioned.

She took a moment to respond, “I’m trusting you to not stab me or anything, okay?” She held out the knife that North had a while ago. North looked surprised at the gesture of trust. 

“Why are you doing this?”

“Because while you don’t have a physical body to be able to move things, you are able to hold this and it’ll interact with this realm. I’ll just give you a book and then you can use this to turn the pages.”

North’s eyes narrowed at that.

“What?” Juniper questioned, “Did you really think you were going to go these 20 hours not working? I need help with this.”

North looked off, considering. “Fine, what book is it?”

“This one.” She tossed a book in the middle of them with the title scratched off. “It’s specifically about ghosts, so just read up a bit on you.”

“Wait, how do you know which one I am?” North asked.

“Well, you have a semi-physical form, meaning that I can see you, which would rule out ghoul, but you can’t interact with stuff here, which rules out spirits and demons.”

“How do you tell what’s a demon and what’s a spirit?”

“They’re both powerful beings and they can both interact with stuff here, but the key difference is their need for souls. Spirits need souls for power and to be able to keep existing, demons don’t need that, so they would be classified as more powerful.”

“Oh…”

“And I’m guessing that’s why you need my soul?”

North refused to answer. 

“Wait, so you made a deal with a spirit? It’s not just killing me out of revenge?”

“No! I’m not- that’s not why I-” North sighed, “I did make a deal and it was partly for revenge, but it’s… it’s a lot harder to kill someone that you know, especially if that person’s trying to help. If I can find an easier way out of this, then I will.”

“Why did you make the deal?”

North hesitated at Juniper’s question, not wanting to answer. Considering her options (which were very limited anyway), she decided to give her the truth. “I need to help my brother. Only the shadow spirit knows where he is.”

Juniper recoiled back in shock, “You made a deal with what? Those types are extremely manipulative, it’s only using you!” 

“No! It’s not like that, it’s helping me, it knows where my brother is!”

“North that’s not-”

“Shut up! It’s not like you know anything about it. Just…” North turned away before continuing, “Just keep looking in your little book, I’m going for a walk.”

“North, wait!” was the last thing she heard before she walked through the mirror. 

* * * * *

When North arrived in the spirit realm, she was met with the shadow spirit. 

“Have you killed the girl yet?”

North stared back at it, “No, I have not.”

“And why is that?” 

“There was… a complication.”

“What kind of complication?” It said, punctuating every word.

“It was just a little close to home is all. I needed a bit of time somewhere familiar.”

It hummed back in understanding, “You have less than 25 hours left, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then you should head along back. I would prefer you not to use up all of your time.”

“I…” North hesitated a bit, “I understand.”

North turned around and trudged toward the mirror. Feeling slightly unsettled, she decided that she couldn’t waste time entertaining the thought of Juniper helping her. 

It was time.

* * * * *

As she walked through the portal, she was met with an angry and frantic Juniper.

“And where exactly were you?” She exclaimed, using the last word in an accusatory tone.

Looking towards the floor, North didn’t reply. _Now is the time_ , she thought to herself, grasping tightly at the knife. She took one step forward before raising the knife. “I’m sorry,” is all she was able to mutter to the frightened Juniper.

“North,” she stated carefully, “North, I need you to put down the knife.”

North waited a few moments before she asked, “Why?”

“Because I think I found something.”

Hope filled North only slightly, she sighed while lowering the knife, relieved that she didn’t have to kill her. “What did you find?”

At that, Juniper held out a floating orb from the palms of her hands. As North was beginning to realize what it was, Juniper interrupted her, “The soul’s not mine, it was something I made from another book. A decoy of sorts.”

“Do you really think this will work?”

“I believe so, that’s what it said in the book. It depends how desperate it is and considering you only have 3 hours left until that spirit needs the soul, I would say it’s pretty desperate.”

“Wait, 3 hours?” North raised her voice.  
“Yes, only 3 hours. Time runs faster here than in the spirit realm, so we need to hurry. Give this to the spirit, get your brother, then come back.”

“Okay, I’ll try my best…” North turned back towards the mirror. “If I don’t come back, thank you for trying to help, goodbye June.”

At the name so rarely spoken, Juniper gave a look of surprise before she gave her an answer, “Good luck North, come back in one piece, okay?”

“I’ll try,” and at that, she walked through the portal.

* * * * *

North noticed the spirit with her brother. Upon seeing him, she shouted, “Marcus!”

“Ah, ah,” the spirit tutted, “Where is the soul?”

North stared at the spirit before she handed the soul to it. 

“Thank you, dear,” it said in response, “However, I am afraid the deal is off. It would be very nice to have two more ghost souls, wouldn’t it?” 

North gaped at the spirit in surprise.

“Oh don’t look so shocked, I’m sure that little meddling wretch told you already.”

“No… You were supposed to help me!” North shouted.

She noticed her brother being held by some kind of force, likely the spirit’s fault. “Let go of him, now!”

The spirit turned towards Marcus, “I am sure you know that I can’t do tha-” the spirit was cut off with a yelp as it felt a knife go through its back.

Taking the knife that the spirit had given her out of its back, she ran past it to her brother. The spirit was distracted and could no longer keep a hold on him, so she scooped him up.

“Get back here!” the spirit roared, chasing after the two. 

North just barely made it through the portal before it started gaining on her.

* * * * *

“Close it Juniper!” North shouted as she crossed the portal, “Close it now!” She fell from the force of going through the portal and the weight of her unconscious brother. 

As she looked back towards the mirror, she could see the spirit running towards it, “What are you waiting for? Close it!”

North looked over at Juniper, expecting her to hold some book to close it or anything to help. However, when she noticed that the steps that Juniper was taking towards it weren’t to close it, but with the intention of going through it, she yelled out for her, “Juniper, what are you doing?”

Juniper walked through the mirror and North saw a sad smile on her face as she turned back towards the other. “I’m sorry North,” Juniper punched the mirror, cracking it and preventing anyone from crossing it, “it had to be this way…”

“June… please don’t do this,” North replied, but she knew it was useless from the sealed portal. 

“I have to. Karma’s a funny thing, right? At least… you two are safe.”

“June!” North watched as the portal shattered, sealing the portal completely. 

“No…” she muttered before raising her voice, “No, no, no, no! I didn’t- She wasn’t supposed to… No!”

All that could be heard throughout the night were the light snores that came from a sleeping Marcus and the pained cries from a devastated ghost.


End file.
